


The Exile's Secret

by windsroad



Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8569432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windsroad/pseuds/windsroad
Summary: Kreia's been undermining the Exile's authority - but helping people can't be bad, right?





	

The Exile sat down heavily in the co-pilot’s chair. “Ooh, I do not know what to do with her.”

Atton raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “The _crone_ bothering you?”

The Exile rolled her eyes—but did not disagree, Atton noticed. “She keeps—telling me things. Advising me. She’s trying to help me, I guess, but I just can’t agree with her.”

“I’ll be the first to criticize anything the old bat says, but why you? Had enough of the Jedi bullshit?”

The Exile sighed and rubbed her neck. “The thing is—she’s not a Jedi. I don’t know if she’s…” The Exile seemed to think better of the comment and shrugged. “Anyways, I suppose she has a point, but I just can’t believe that helping people could be a bad thing. If you want things to get better, you have to make things get better. You can’t sit around what if-ing yourself into stagnancy.” She shook her head in a defeated gesture. “That was the same reason I followed Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. The Jedi Order forbade it, but I didn’t listen. I guess I never learn.”

Atton stared at the Exile, hard, who was gazing out the windshield into space. “Do you regret it?”

The Exile turned and met his eyes. “No,” she said. Firmly, decisively. “I regret the pain I caused, but not the people I saved.” She looked out the windshield again. “If I had to do it again—I would. But I’d find a different way. Less death. But still the same goal.

“If that means I’m not a Jedi, and not a Sith, and not… whatever Kreia is, then that’s okay.”

There was a pause, and the two sat in silence. Atton felt a cold little part of his heart warm. The Exile had taken part in the same war—and she hadn’t lost sight of the goal. She hadn’t lost herself to the dark side. Atton felt shame and, at the same time, a faint bit of hope.

“It doesn’t help that she berates me in front of you guys!” the Exile burst out. “Here I am trying to be a—not a master, a guide, I guess, and there she goes undermining me. Telling me giving a man a few credits is a bad thing or offering my help is wrong. It doesn’t inspire confidence.”

Atton crossed his arms. “What, and I don’t count? If you’re worried about not looking like an almighty authority, why come talk to me about this?”

The Exile laughed. “No, you _don’t_ count. You’ve been here since the beginning of all this nonsense, so you know my dirty secret already.”

Atton shifted his weight to look at her better and cocked an eyebrow. “Do I?” he asked, with some interest.

“I have _no_ idea what I’m doing!” the Exile replied earnestly, grabbing the arm of the pilot’s chair with a force that shook it. Her face was close to his, and Atton felt an uncomfortable tension, a tempting pull.

Atton tried to laugh, but it caught in his throat. “I’ll tell you what: none of us do.”


End file.
